In the Hall of the Goddess: Influence Revised
by ElissaCousland
Summary: Serah finally reunites with Lightning. Romance/Angst. Lightning x Serah. Revised edition.


-In The Hall of The Goddess: Influence- (Revised)

_Serah._

Lightning could feel her sister's presence as soon as she set solid foot in Valhalla. The air in this place drown with her innocent timidity. It was…Lightning roved her mind for the word…

_Delicious._

She licked her lips absently, the sound of boots clapping on stone echoed loudly in the large, empty chamber.

"Lightning…?" Serah called out to the empty throne. There was a force in this room. Raw, untamed power, but…she could also feel… that it was tempered, by a will, stronger than steel. She definitely felt her sister in here. Lightning was somewhere nearby.

It was at that moment, that at Serah's mere thought of her, she appeared with a clap of thunder and the scent of ozone, surrounded in a dazzle of purplish-white sparks that fizzled around her before dying out, leaving Lightning alone on the throne of the goddess.

"Lightning!" Serah ran full out toward her long-lost sister.

The woman in question, now, not just a woman, but a demi-goddess, stood and accepted the small, pink missile that flew into her waiting embrace.

"Serah…" Lightning's voice trembled as she said her name. She squeezed her close to her body, hardly able to believe that after all this time -three years to Serah's mind, but countless aeons to the throne-keeper- she was finally here. They were finally together again. Forever.

A single tear slipped down Lightning's cheek, trailed by a white-blue flash. This time, Lightning would _never_ let her go.

"Lightning…" Serah whispered, a hand palming her sister's soft cheek as her own tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She absently stroked the smooth bone of her sister's cheek with the pad of her thumb, as she beheld Lightning's beauty.

Even through the years that had passed, Lightning had not aged a single day. She was still just as breathtaking as she ever was. Serah wasn't sure if that was Valhalla's influence, or if it was just Lightning, but she didn't care. They were together again.

Serah's eyes wandered lower, to Lightning's mouth. Her eyes were drawn to the defiant curve of her lower lip, the proud bow of her upper lip, the beautiful symmetry of both together, that formed a surface she just couldn't resist. There was something she had to tell Lightning.

After three years of believing she was crazy, three years that she searched everywhere to no end, and the year or so, she must have spent on her journey with Noel, bouncing back and forth through the endless continuum of time and space… somewhere along the way, Serah realized her bond with Lightning was… _stronger_ than what most people shared.

"Serah…" the look in Lightning's eyes as she raised her hands to Serah's face told Serah that Lightning felt the same. It was unspoken between them, as of yet, but Serah realized, she wasn't crazy. Lightning _did_ love her.

A flash of sparks fizzled from Lightning's forearms, disintegrating the metal gloves all the way down to her fingertips, leaving her hands completely bare. Lightning took precious care, cupping Serah's face with her calloused palms.

"Lightning…" Serah's eyes trembled with unshed emotion. She broke then, allowing her tears to fall quietly as Lightning tugged her close. Serah buried her head in the hollow of Lightning's neck, weeping her distress. "I thought I'd never find you…" she sobbed, "…they said I was crazy…" the tears flowed faster, "…I knew you were alive…"

"I…Lightning…I…"

Lightning pushed Serah away from her, just far enough to look into her eyes again. Serah wiped her tears away with the heels of her palms. She was being silly, crying like this in front of Lightn-

Lightning kissed her.

Serah didn't deny the kiss. She didn't stop her. She didn't want to stop her. And none of that seemed to matter. It was different from kissing Snow. She felt something come alive within her, felt her body responding in a new way, felt her lips match and mimic her sister's moves as Lightning's rhythm made her heart beat for the first time in four years.

Lightning pulled away, slowly, still touching lips with Serah's, then only their foreheads, and finally pulling away enough to look into her eyes once more. "I've missed you," was all she said, her voice breathy and low.

"I've missed you, too, Lightning" Serah replied, gently caressing her sister's beautiful face.

The sharp scent of ozone filled the air. A slip of electric current formed from the nothingness and enveloped Serah's right wrist. She furrowed her brow. Another tiny bolt of electricity formed around her left wrist. Serah's heart rate sped up. She looked into Lightning's eyes…

And understood.

Lightning really had become like a goddess in Valhalla. Real lightning fizzled and crackled the air everywhere around her like a divine aura. It formed behind her eyes and everywhere along her exposed skin. She had become the essence of her namesake, in the service of the Goddess Etro.

"What's…going on?" Serah asked, a little worried at the sudden change in the atmosphere. The electric bracelets didn't hurt or burn, instead they were warm. Still, the mood in the room had darkened a bit, and it worried her.

Lightning looked at her, ice-blue eyes crackling with electric energy. "The weak… must obey…" Lightning shook her head, closing her eyes tight. "No!" she growled out. "Serah!"

Serah gasped and she felt herself lifted by nothing and thrown from the throne-room, back down the hall, into a bedroom, and onto a large bed littered with many fluffy pillows. The electric bracelets around her wrists each grew a tendril that snaked around one of the bedposts above either side of her head and pulled her arms up into a spread position.

Lightning trembled where she stood, crackling with sparks of energy cascading all around her. "No! NO!" she kept calling out. She… seemed to be fighting with herself, the electric currents would flash, and then disappear into her skin, only to reappear again. What the Hell was going on? Serah wondered. Had the influence of Valhalla, or the throne of the Goddess, driven Lightning mad?

Suddenly, Lightning stood before the bed, electricity crackling all around her, over-spilling from her skin, filling her eyes. It raised all the little hairs on Serah's body, just to have her standing so close with so much electric current flowing off of her.

"The weak must obey the strong. It is the will of Valhalla. So it must be."

It was hard to resist the will of fate. In Valhalla, Lightning was strong. Serah was no match for her. Lightning's will would be done. Unless…

Lightning climbed onto the bed, positioning herself over Serah's body. One last time, the lightning retreated from Claire's body. She glanced down at the pinned Serah and pleaded at her with her desperate blue eyes. "Resist me," she begged.

"What?" Serah asked. "Claire?"

"Fight me!" Claire begged, sobbing now, her body trembling as she fought to contain her power.

"No!" Serah replied, "I won't fight you, Claire!" she yelled, "I.." her voice softened, "I don't want to hurt you.."

A single tear fell down Claire's cheek, accompanied by a silent sob. The crackle of warm energy returned full-force. Lightning's voice took on a husky pitch.

"Then… you must obey…"

The smell of ozone returned. Serah's clothes went up in a fizzle of sparks, with the scent of burning cloth. She was now fully nude, with nothing between herself and the electricity emanating from her sister's body. The warm embrace of sparks influenced her body's reaction, causing her to gasp at the slightest tickle that zapped her exposed skin.

Lightning's armor faded away, much as her gloves had earlier, leaving her naked, except for the sparks flowing along her skin. "Serah…" she called her sister's attention to her gaze. The younger woman looked up at her, anticipation dancing in her eyes.

Lightning nipped at her earlobe, gently pressing down with her teeth and just a teensy bit of the immense power at her call. Serah gasped. The electric bracelets around her wrists hummed with a sudden need for more power to keep her pinned as she bucked against her restraints. Lightning fed it as needed, it was such a small amount anyway.

"From now…" Lightning whispered into her sister's ear, trailing a hand down the soft expanse of Serah's stomach " and forevermore…" She gently pushed Serah's legs apart, drawing the electricity back within her body. She wanted to savor the moment at hand, a final culmination of the lifelong, enduring, endless love she had for Serah.

Serah gasped again as the warm glow faded from Lightning's fingertips and it was just her -just Claire- touching her. Serah felt Claire's gentle, calloused fingertips ghosting so tenderly, so painstakingly soft against her. She wanted more.

Serah arched up and claimed her sister's lips again, kissing her with more need than before. A part of her mind rationalized in Claire's own voice, or perhaps it was Claire speaking to her telepathically.

_Are you sure you want this?_

It was right. Serah couldn't see how it was wrong. It was only right that she should give herself over to Claire. For in the end, it was _Claire_ who had sacrificed anything and everything for Serah, -twice- something even Snow had not been able to accomplish, and ultimately, what Lightning had finally given up, was a normal life, her very mortality- the ability to grow old and die. All of this, she had forsaken, for Serah's sake.

Serah opened her mouth, and the words flowed effortlessly. "It is the will of Valhalla. So it must be."

"Then…" Lightning let the electricity return. Serah gasped at every nip and bite of the hot currents over her skin. "From now and forever more…" Lightning played her fingertips along Serah's skin, allowing the sparks from her power to zap her.

"You _belong_ to me…" Lightning finished.

Serah cried out. The sensation was more than she had expected, more than she was able to express with mere words or sounds. The tears of joy that spilled from her eyes were swept away by a gentle, electric-less hand as Lightning held her gaze.

Words were beyond meaning now. The sisters had no need of them. This was the culmination of a lifetime of mutual feelings, long-suppressed, exposed by the years of separation and the journey to find each other once again.

The very moment Serah had stepped physical foot into the Hall of the Goddess, a new bond was forged between their two hearts. Lightning could feel Serah's love for her. She could hear Serah's thoughts in her mind, as if they were her own. But most of all, she could see herself, as Serah saw her: at once, both soft and strong. Driven. A vindicator of her love, in steel and feathers. The only one truly worthy to protect her. And, what surprised Lightning, Serah saw her as beautiful, so beautiful that it hurt to look at her too long, knowing they were only sisters, and could never be more…

But that was the past.

In Valhalla, time had no meaning. Societies crumbled and resurrected in the blink of the Goddess's divine eye. There was no one here who could judge them. They were truly together again, forever. They were finally free.

"Ah! Lightning!" Serah moaned, as her sister struggled to maintain a hold of the electricity roiling in her body, that she wanted so bad to just let go of. Serah loved her. Lightning felt her hold on her power slipping.

She kissed Serah's sweet cherry-gloss flavored lips, reveling in the bliss of Serah's embrace. Once Lightning realized she no longer had to restrain her, she had released the bonds around Serah's wrists, and she was now glad she had, as Serah pulled Lightning's body close to her, wrapping her arms tight around Lightning's shoulders.

The younger woman - a thought occurred to Lightning, a strange thought to be having in the middle of all this-

With the years that had passed, and Lightning having been in Valhalla all this time… _Serah_ was now the "older" sister. She was twenty-two. Lightning paused and glanced down at her.

Serah had grown in the time they were apart, and it showed. She was a few inches taller than when they had last seen each other. Mostly though, the change showed in her face. Serah had grown out of her youthful cuteness. In the time that had passed, she had become a young woman, and she was more beautiful than ever.

Lightning returned to kissing Serah, savoring her flavor. Serah gasped with each electrified kiss, especially when Lightning used her tongue, as their swapped spittle seemed an excellent conductor for the currents of energy to pass from the throne-keeper to her charge.

Serah never thought it would be so _shocking_ to kiss her sister. She pulled away from the kiss and giggled a little.

Lightning leaned her forehead against Serah's and smiled, sharing in the pun. Then, she turned serious again, with a twist of her wrist to draw Serah's attention back to the situation.

_I'll give you "shocking"…_ Lightning mentally warned, gazing down at Serah with a devilish, knowing smile.

Lightning's ministrations were met with a soft moan and Serah arching her back. Lightning subconsciously smiled. She could feel her sister's enjoyment. She could feel them both getting closer, as Serah's gasps became more frequent, her breaths shorter, as though she couldn't get enough air in her lungs.

"Oh…" she moaned, her voice throaty and sensual, "…Lightning…". It was a timbre Lightning had never heard from Serah, and the ex-sergeant found it completely arousing.

She kissed her way down her smooth, soft stomach. She spread Serah's legs apart further to make room. She quickened the pace. Serah began to tremble, her moans all but wild, raw sounds that tore from deep within her being, unable to be held back anymore.

Serah momentarily propped herself up on her elbows to glance down at Lightning, only to find that Lightning was staring right back at her.

There was something oddly arousing about the eye contact. It was the hottest thing ever. Serah shuddered, moaning. Her head fell back.

"Ahhhhhhh! Fuck! CLAAAIIIIIRRREE!"

Lightning grunted Serah's name into the side of her thigh.

As the power of lightning faded from her exhausted body, Lightning slowly kissed her way back up Serah's body, to her mouth, where they shared a few chaste kisses.

Serah pulled Lightning to her, making Lightning rest her head on her shoulder. She absently stroked her fingers through Lightning's hair, held the back of her head with her other hand.

Lightning didn't protest, she seemed content to let Serah do whatever she wanted. She seemed more interested in tracing unique, invisible patterns in Serah's skin. Her fingers danced lazily on the crest of Serah's hip, the meat of her thigh, the plain of her abdomen.

A sudden gasp jolted Lightning's attention. She glanced up. Serah's eyes were filled with tears. "Serah?" Lightning asked, "What's wrong?" suddenly fearing the worst.

Serah sniffled and cuddled into Lightning's upper body. "I'm just… so happy…" she whispered, clutching at Lightning's shoulders. Lightning kissed the top of Serah's head and then leaned her forehead against Serah's.

"So am I," she whispered. She took Serah's hands in hers and they both wove their fingers together and squeezed.

They shared a few more chaste kisses and settled into a peaceful sleep.

When Serah awoke again, she was alone in the large, fluffy bed. She felt more… confined. She pulled herself out of the bed and realized that she was somehow, clothed again.

Closer inspection revealed that she was now wearing an off-crème colored dress, with long sleeves. The dress was a sheer fabric that would have revealed her body underneath, if not for the conveniently-placed, long, white feathers gathered at her bosom, and at the waistline of the dress. The dress reached down just past her knees in the front. In the back, it touched down to the floor, with a long train trailing behind her.

She wondered for a moment where it had come from. Then she recalled seeing a feather-like skirt-thing that complimented Lightning's armor. Speaking of Lightning… where was she?

Serah wandered from the bed room, into the Great Hall. Lightning was there, sitting on the throne, watching time and eternity slip by.

Serah walked up the throne and stood beside her for a moment. She watched everything that Lightning was watching. Millions upon millions of lifetimes spread out before their view from the throne. "What is all this..?" she wondered aloud.

Lightning replied, "All of the realities that _are_, that _were_, and that are _yet to be_,"

"Wow.." Serah whispered, awestruck. Lightning really was the keeper of time now. "But how do you know which ones belong and-"

Lightning shook her head, already knowing what Serah was trying to ask. How could Lightning tell which realities belonged to the true flow of time, and which ones were paradoxes that would threaten the continuum of the timeline itself.

"I…can't explain…The Goddess Etro…imbued me… infused my mind, with the knowledge of the true timeline." Lightning got up and walked over to the terrace that overlooked time. She leaned against the rail, speaking now with her back to Serah. "When something is off, I just… _feel_ it."

Serah walked up behind Lightning and put her arms around her waist. She hugged Lightning from behind and smiled. Lightning didn't stiffen, not in the slightest. In fact, she leaned back into Serah's embrace. Serah didn't know if it was Valhalla's influence, all the time that had passed since the end of the l'Cie journey, or if their shared expression had something to do with it.

This was a new Lightning, and Serah felt her heart expand even further for her. It was not an easy fate, to serve the Goddess. Lightning would need someone to lean on, someone to be there for her, someone to love her and hold her through the stress of it all. Serah smiled, as she rested her chin on Lightning's shoulder, sharing her sister's view over the millions of worlds.

There would be hard times ahead, but they had been through hard times before. Serah was just happy to be together with Lightning again. This time, she would stay by her side, forever. Serah found a spot of bare skin peeking through a junction between the plates of Lightning's shoulder and chest armor. She pressed her lips to the skin there.

"I love you," she whispered, giving Lightning a squeeze.

Lightning turned in Serah's arms. She raised a gauntlet-clad hand. The metal armor fizzled out of existence, as it had before. Lightning brushed a strand of hair out of Serah's eyes. She kissed Serah with a soft press of her lips.

"I love you," Lightning repeated Serah's words.

Serah smiled. This new influence - whatever it was that had caused this change in Lightning- was a good thing. So what that she was a little…crazy. If you asked Serah, that just made it all the more enjoyable.

* * *

A/N: The original story, in it's ENTIRETY, can be found either here: elissacousland_livejournal_com, or here: www_yourfanfiction_com.


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